Stamp and label box



Feb. 1, 1938. J. YACKER r-:r AL

-STAMP AND LABEL BOX Filed March 28, 1936 I INVENTOR.

Jacob qcl er- 4 Wa/Z'e/S A msch ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 1, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE STAMP AND LABEL BOX Application March 28, 1936, Serial No. 71,394

2 Claims.

This invention is a stamp and label box adapted to be used by shipping clerks and mailing clerks in business establishments, oflices, etc., as a convenient depository for stamps and labels, whereby stamps of various denominations and labels of various kind may be efficiently segregated for convenient access.

Shipping and mailing clerks use at various times stamps of several denominations and it is almost the universal practice to keep these stamps in separate envelopes with the denominations marked on the outside, so that, when any particular stamp is desired, the envelope is opened and one or more stamps removed. It is not uncommon in the mailing of parcels and the like to handle three or four different envelopes in order to get stamps of the proper denomination to fulfill the postal requirements.

The label problem constitutes another source of annoyance. These labels are generally contained in separate receptacles or boxes which lie at random on the desk of the shipping clerk and have to be sorted over every time a particular type of label is required.

The foregoing common practice constitutes an annoyance and waste of time. It slows down mailing and shipping facilities of an organization and is altogether undesirable, yet, up to the present time, no satisfactory solution has been found.

The present invention provides a simple and efficient solution of the problem through the provision of a box provided therein with compartments adapted to contain stamps of different denominations and labels of diiferent kinds in a convenient and accessible manner. One or more of the compartment walls of the box are hinged and are provided with appropriate catch devices. so that two or more compartments may be merged into one in the event that a larger single compartment is desired in the place of two or more smaller compartments. Furthermore, the box provides convenient means for handling of labels in strip form, such, for example, as air mail labels which are commonly employed in shipping and mailing departments. I

Features of the invention. other than those adverted to, will be apparent from the hereinafter detailed description and claims, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

The accompanying drawing illustrates one practical embodiment of the invention, but the construction therein shown is to be understood as illustrative, only, and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing a box embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a fragmental plan view of the interior box compartments showing the manner in which certain compartment walls may be hinged to merge two or more compartments Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; and

Figure 4 is a perspective View showing a strip label dispensing device which is associated with one of the compartments.

Referring to the drawing, l designates a body of a box which, in practice, may be of any appr0- priate shape and size, but is preferably relatively shallow, so that it may be conveniently positioned withinthe drawer of a desk or table or placed for safe keeping in a safe or locked box.

The box body I may be provided with a cover of any appropriate kind. In the more expensive types of box, made in accordance with this invention, we prefer to employ a rolled top, similar to that commonly used on rolled top desks, but inasmuch as this type of closure is well known, we have not considered it necessary to illustrate the same in the drawing. For the purpose of illustration, we have shown the closure in the form of a hinged cover 2 which may be locked in closed position, when desired, by an appropriate lock constituting the parts 3 and 4, one of which is mounted on the cover and the other on the box body. When a hinged cover of the character described is employed, the inner face of the cover forms a convenient spaceon which is printed postal information appropriate to letter mail, air mail and parcel post and generally showing rates, zones, and other information useful to the user of the box.

The interior of the box body is divided by longitudinal and transverse walls into a series of compartments. We preferably provide along the front portion of the box body a row of compartments designated generally by the reference characters 5, 6, I, and 8. These compartments may. all be of the same or different. sizes and are adapted primarily to contain labels, sticktangular formto produce a bottom Wall 9, end walls In and II and a top wall l2. The ends of the strip may be united by providing the bottom wall 9 with an upstanding flange |3 having slits and by providing the lower end of the end wall II with tongues adapted to be passed through said slits and bent over, as shown best in Figure 4 as at M.

Labels in folded strip form are adapted to be contained within this structure and passed through a slot I5 in one end of the top wall 2 and thence carried along the exterior surface of said wall in the direction of the arrow in Figure 4 beneath a retaining member l5. This retaining member may also be stamped from sheet metal and of inverted U-shape form t to provide opposite side flanges having at their lower ends tongues similar to the tongues l4 adapted to be passed through slots in the top wall I 2 and bent over to hold the retainer H5 in place. The end edge |B of the retainer is a cutting edge, so that the strip label,-after extending beneath the retainer and beyond the edge l8, may be withdrawn to the desired extent and torn off against said edge. tate the longitudinal movement of the strip label, the upper portion of the retainer is cut away to provide an operating slot l9 which is preferably sufficiently large so as to permit the label, when in place on .the dispenser, to be read and properly identified by the user Without necessitating the withdrawal of the label. The device shown in Figure 4 is, as stated, adapted to be received in the compartment 8, so as to fit said compartment snugly and this makes it unnecessary to provide side walls for the strip label container.

In addition to the compartments 5-8, inclusive, the box is shown as having additional compartments 20-25, inclusive. The compartments 20 and 2| are separated by a transverse wall '25 which is shown as hinged to a longitudinal wall 21 by a hinge 28. This hinge is a spring hinge and is provided therein with a spring. 29, which serves to normally hold the wall 26 in aposition to separate the compartments 20 and 2|. However, said wall 26 may, if desired, be moved, as indicated by the arrow in Figure 2, to merge the compartments 2D and 2| and is provided at its free end with a spring catch 30 which, when the wall 26 is moved into the dotted line position of Figures 1 and 2, will pass through a slot 3| in the wall 2'! and thus lock the wall 26 in retracted position, so that, in lieu of the two smaller compartments 20 and 2|, a large or double compartment is provided. When the catch 30 is released, the spring 29 will return the wall 25 to the full line position of Figures 1 and 2 and the small projection 32 may be received into a depression in the wall 33 to serve to hold the wall 26 against inadvertent shifting. Additional walls of the box may be made pivotal as described in connectionwith the wall 26 and we have shown one additional wall 34 pivoted to the wall 21 in the same way. 7

To facili- In a box made as described labels are conveniently disposed in the compartments 5-8, while the stamps in loose, strip, sheetor roll form are deposited in the other compartments in accordance with predetermined denominational designations, the partitions being shiftable as stated to provide suflicient space for particular denominations. In each case, however, the stamps are kept in an accessible way where their type and character can be easily observed and from which they may be removed without inconvenience or delay.

It will of course be understood that the box of this invention may be-made of any suitable material and of any appropriate size and with any desired number of compartments depending upon conditions.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical form, but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention,

what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A stamp and label box comprising a box body provided therein with a fixed partition wall dividing the interior of the box body into a plurality of compartments and having therein a slot, at least one hinged wall having .at one of its ends a spring hinge mounted on the fixed partition wall and serving to normally maintain the hinged wall in a position to subdivide one of the compartments in the box body into two smaller compartments, but being retractable against the tension of the spring hinge to merge said smaller compartments, and a spring clasp on the hinged .wall adapted to enter into the slot of the fixed. partition to hold, the hinged wall in retracted position when the clasp is engaged with the slot. v

2. A stamp and label box comprising a box body provided therein with a fixed partition wall dividing the interior of the box body into a plu rality of compartments, and having therein a slot, at least one hinged wall having at one of its ends a spring hinge mounted on the fixed partition wall and serving to normally maintain the hinged wall in a position to subdivide one of the compartments in the box body into two smaller compartments, but being retractable against the tension of the spring hinge. to merge said smaller compartments, and a spring clasp on. the hinged wall adapted to enter into the slot of the fixed partition to hold the hinged wall in retracted position when the clasp isengagedwith the slot, there being a depressionin a fixed wall of the'box adjacent the free end, of the hinged Wall when the latter is in subdividing position, 

